Chief Solomon ‘taking some leave’

March 12, 2012

Solomon’s on-duty sexual behavior, political activities, and improper department policies initiated since her 2007 appointment have been detailed by current and former officers, resulting in widespread news coverage.

Sources told CalCoastNews that Solomon was not in the office Monday morning; did not provide subordinates with a forwarding contact number; and did not have her city-issued vehicle. Those sources also said she would be gone for at least 10 days. That would place her off-duty beyond the next city council meeting slated for March 20.

App, asked if Solomon’s absence could be described as administrative leave, replied in an email, “It is not described as anything. She is taking leave. She left Robert Burton in charge.”

160 Comments

If I were to bet, I’d bet that the Council, with advice from App & Yang, are trying to decide whether to fire her, or give her a package to leave quietly. App & Yang will advise Council to give her a package so she’ll be kind and 1) not sue the City (or claim disability or some other nonsense), and 2) help Paso defend the lawsuit from the police union.

IF she is guilty, she needs to be terminated. Period! But A & Y will NOT recommend that, and the Council as a whole don’t have any other legal or management advice to seek. Bless their hearts for being willing to be on the Council, but think about who we have… A retired shoe store owner, a realtor, an one man shop architect, Fred, and a small business owner. None of these poor guys have ANY experience with this, that’s why they do what A & Y tell them to do. So be prepared for Solomon to leave with a secret settlement the details of which we won’t be allowed to know.

But…. If a good community minded lawyer would step up and quietly offer them advice, or if they hired another lawyer to report directly to them outside of A & Y, they may get different options.

OUR ONLY HOPE is for the police union to negotiate a settlement requiring the heads of Solomon, App & Yang. Win win, problems solved for ALL!

Pasoman – You are talking about people who ran their own businesses and know this town very well. They are all dedicated men who want to do their best for the city. I don’t even know if they get a stipend. So don’t dump on them.

You do make a good point on their advisers though. These are the professionals who should be held accountable. Department heads and CEOs routinely get the axe for not giving the elected board good information or taking their respective department in a direction a council is unhappy with. It’s neither uncommon or considered a taint for a city manager to be fired by a new council. In fact Mr. App has probably been in this place too long. If he were to look for another posting it’s likely that his long tenure will be held against him. Typically, city managers see dark clouds on the horizon and move before the rain. It seems that Mr. App has decided to put on a coat and weather the storm. He may survive, but will come out soggy. I hope he plans on retiring.

As for the Chief. She is done and is probably not coming back. How can she, even for a woman with her hubris, she is so damaged in the LE community it is incomprehensible that she could show her face at a Chief’s meeting.

The more I think about it, Solomon is done. She won’t be coming back from her mini-vacation. I sure hope residents don’t let that arrogant prick James App off the hook now that he has thrown Solomon under the bus, when MANY belong there!

As I read these posts and comments I understand what TYPO is trying to say, but I have to process the whole situation as I have read them in numerous articles here and in letters to the newspapers as they have been presented and say that if you are an elected or appointed officials and the people you represent no longer have trust, respect or support for you, you bring lies and falsehood to your department, your model of policies and operation standards are not working, you have lost the respect of the men and women in your own department, the community at large and from what I have heard from several law enforcement officials county wide then I think it is safe to say you have become ineffective and can no longer perform or be respected do your job regardless of the allegations. There comes a time for you to just do the right thing and move on. Any CEO, manager, or appointed official in your position would have been removed long ago if it had not been for your “local” supporters from Mr. App, the Council, the seniors ladies, and a few of your close family and friends. As a community you have brought shame, divide, and have wasted enough of our taxpayer dollars over all of this. Do the right thing and just resign for the love of your community!

I just realized something about all of this Paso fiasco in the past weeks. I have not heard of one city Official that has come forward and vehemently DENIED any of these accusations. All I hear are excuses, silence, lies, sidestepping, and ignorance.
This sends the message that it must be true. “and I mean that.”

Council member Strong, in response to questions about the scandals in Paso Robles, indicated council members perform judicial functions and, because of that, he cannot discuss the situation with the public. Worse, he indicated he cannot read any information about what is going on unless given to him by approved sources.

This reads to me that he is trying to expand the powers of the council members (by adding “judicial” functions to the executive functions of a city council member), and then use that as an excuse for refusing not reply to questions from the public (including Paso residents) about the scandals involving Paso’s city government and its staff.

My final take-home: He (and perhaps the other council members) believe council members are not accountable for their actions as council member, and are not accountable for staying informed and up-to-date on what is going on in Paso.

Did Solomon clean her desk out? Did Solomon take her unregistered gun out of her unlocked city car?
We may find out today as big news is about ready to come out of Paso Robles, maybe as soon as today.
Stay tuned.

The next Paso Robles City Council meeting is one week from today on Tuesday, March 20th at 7:30 pm at the Paso Library.

Please join me beginning at 6:30 to show our rejection of James App and Lisa Solomon as employees of Paso Robles. Please wear something red to show unity. Feel free to bring a sign — please keep it clean.

If the bureaucrats pre-fill the room with their supporters once again, it will underscore to everyone just how arrogant and foolish they have become — but it cannot keep us from speaking up! Summon your courage for next Tuesday night is the time! Hope to see you there…

Lisa Solomon used her Facebook to gather her support for that last meeting. The officers were forced to go and the suck-ups flocked to it for future aspirations. They all want the promotions. Some are on this forum and you know who you are. Lets hope the city starts opening up positions like sergeant and lieutenant to outside applicants. This way the chain of retarded, which exists in PRPD is broken. If you’re offended at the word retarded, it’s true in this case. This is Lisa’s problem……. alcohol. The good ole’ fashion wild night out is a common occurrance with Lisa. So Lisa listen up. Do the right thing, resign. You know what happened and you know its all bad from here. Lisa your department lost respect for you long ago. Your ego and self centered behavior has finally brought you to where you are at. Lisa you are unprofessional and the laughing stock of our county. You expect your subordinates to cover your indiscretions and crucify them when they speak out against you. When you actually put on or stretch into your uniform you reek of hypocrisy. You quote the code of ethics and your mission statement but you don’t follow them. You use your office as a perk to your social life. Its a well known fact. Your cops are scared to work because if they do, Burton is right there to critique them with all of his 4 years of so called patrol experience. It would be laughable if not so tragic. Expect the same team lisa support at the next meeting. Don’t forget too, Chris is seeking to support his life of luxury and over spending by supporting his sugar momma. To the actual working cops and supervisors, thank you and I feel bad you all have to suffer through this.

You’re absolutely right. She got away with a great deal for a very long time. Lacking any real education, breadth of employment or serious mentoring by qualified individuals, I’m sure she began to feel a bit omnipotent after awhile. A feeling that she could do/get anything she wanted for as long as she wanted. When she was handed the job of chief she lacked the wisdom to put the brakes on the unprofessional and illegal behavior. Instead she appears to have shifted into high gear and that’s what’s going to end her career in Paso Robles.

It would be horrifically wrong if the taxpayers had to pay a full, disability-enhanced retirement. She should be fired for cause.

March 24th meeting is at 9:00 on Saturday in the conference room. Public is invited again, but they try not to advertise it too much. If everybody keeps it orderly, then maybe they’ll listen. I’d leave the signs at home for this one and be ready to ask questions instead.